Powercuts
by sivvussa
Summary: Modern-day Tortall: a bleak dystopia, tormented by Immortal attacks and teetering on the brink of revolution. A young girl strikes up an odd friendship with a woman who can talk to animals. Leanne's fascination soon sours when she suspects the woman might be to blame for the arrival of the Immortals in her city. D/N
1. Chapter 1: The Monster

Powercuts

_Blurb: In a bleak future tormented by Immortal attacks and teetering on the brink of revolution, a young girl strikes up an odd friendship with a woman who can talk to animals. Leanne's fascination soon sours when she suspects the woman might be to blame for the arrival of the Immortals in her city. D/N_

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A/N: This is a sequel to _The Autumn Assignment. _It is a complete story on its own, but many parts of it will make much more sense if you read the prequel first!

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Chapter 1

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Afterwards, Leanne said, she couldn't remember anything at all. Not the sudden shriek, not the frozen way she'd stared up at the silver-clawed creature, too scared even to run away from her own death, not _anything_.

"Nonsense," Said her brother, pushing a cup of hot chocolate into her hands with his usual abrupt gentleness. "You must remember _something_."

No, Leanne insisted. Nothing. Not a single thing. And then she shut her mouth tightly and refused to say another word.

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It is strange how one event can start off a whole chain, like the first raindrop in a storm. Often they're so small a blink would make them vanish, but sometimes they come screaming into our lives on silver wings, and when they attack you they're quite hard to ignore!

Not that the children were expecting anything to happen to them on that day. It seemed perfectly normal. The park was nearly empty, because even seven years after the monsters had first appeared, people still hadn't remembered how to feel safe outside. Daniel had said it was safe enough for them to play when there were grownups around, what with the overhanging barbed wires stopping flyers and the thick fences around the city warning away the prowlers. The countryside might be dangerous, he said, but we live in the city, and only a few immortals slip through the soldiers' defences.

Leanne wasn't sure- _a few _was a lot less reassuring than _none, _but she trusted her big brother. He could remember the time before the immortals returned, after all. He knew how to survive. She had simply grown up in the city, and only knew she was _surviving_ because she read about the people who _weren't_ in the newspapers.

On that day, her little ward was being horribly energetic. She knew she wasn't supposed to take him outside on her own, but she also knew she would be blamed for every knocked-over vase and every dent in the furniture. At a loose end, she decided a half-hour run around the park would probably make him tired enough to sit and play quietly for the afternoon. So she took Tallis to the park, almost having to run after him when he took off at high speed.

For a five-year-old he was unusually small, and she usually spent more time picking him up and drying his tears when he fell over than anything else. Her brother said she was a good babysitter, but she didn't think that was right. She spent so much time in a blind panic, worrying that her nephew would fall and break his head open!

Tallis laughed in his odd high voice and headed straight for the swings, and then started sulking when they wouldn't stay still enough in the wind for him to climb on without help. Leanne held the chain still and he kicked off so quickly she had to jump back to stop the swing crashing back into her. The little pest laughed again when she landed in a puddle and mud coursed up her clothes. She blinked at the stains with tears in her eyes. Sometimes life just wasn't fair!

She sat on the second swing sulkily, watching her feet waving forwards, back, forwards, back, perfectly in time with the excited whooping of the little pest. Out of the corner of her eye she watched the other feet, the grownup feet as they walked past the enclosed play-park. Red shoes, black shoes, trainers, sandals. Her shoes had been black too, her shiny school shoes, until they were covered in mud. Now they were brown. Boring brown feet in boring brown shoes.

Afterwards she wondered if her boredom had somehow called the creature. Tallis saw it before she did. Face upturned to the sky on the high point of the swing, his scream of joy turned into a shriek of terror. Leanne didn't hear the difference until other screams joined it, grownup screams in deeper voices. The feet ran away and she looked up, just in time for the sunlight to reflect off the sharp silver claws into her eyes and blind her.

Tallis screamed again, unable to stop the swing from reeling in and out of the hurrock's path, his feet straining to reach the ground. In desperation he jumped from the swing, landing badly and hurting his knee. Normally this would have him curled up on the ground sobbing, but today he hardly noticed the pain. He took off at a run towards the nearest tree, wailing, and the creature's head snapped around towards the running prey.

Leanne noticed two things, then. The first was that the creature was tangled in one of the overhanging wires, the sharp barbs cutting into one hind leg and drawing blood. The hurrock lunged towards Tallis but the wire caught it painfully, and it turned around to bite at it with sharp silver teeth.

The second thing she noticed was that she couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She could only stare at the silver wire and the silver claws and the writhing monster in terror, knowing that at any moment it would free itself and attack, and that even if she could run she would never be fast enough, or go far enough away, to be safe. She stared at the silver wire and couldn't remember a single thing they'd learned in school about Monster Danger, or a single spell she'd learned which might fight it off.

The grownups had all run away by now. The world was full only of the sounds of gnashing teeth and flapping wings. Whenever the hurrock was too close to the ground it tore up great strips of grass with its claws, like a hot knife going through soft butter.

The loop of wire broke with a sound like a tinny piano string being struck, and the hurrock was free. It turned its head slowly, deliberately, and stared at her.

Leanne stared back. Her throat burned, it was so dry, and she couldn't bring herself to swallow the knife-blade of fear that was choking her.

"Must you attack _children_?" A soft voice asked, iron in its accusation. The hurrock reared back and stared around, nostrils flaring as it looked for the speaker. Leanne breathed out in a rush, and then realised she could move again. She collapsed from the swing, shaking too much to run, and the creature darted closer to her.

"No." She didn't see what the woman did, but the creature suddenly keened and spun away again. Its manic eyes rolled back in its head and this time it stayed further away, still sniffing the air suspiciously. Its eyes narrowed; it focused on a copse of trees nearby, but by the time it had found its prey another arrow was hurtling towards it. This one buried itself in its fore shoulder, and now Leanne could see the first arrow buried in its hind knee. For some reason the sight made Leanne want to laugh- it was so unusual to see arrows! It was like being in a school play.

"The next one will be in your head. I don't miss. Leave." The soft voice never wavered, never rose, but the immortal keened again and this time took wing, the trees shaking as it beat against the breeze. Leanne stared after it, and her eyes kept spinning, rising higher and higher and drifting into the empty white-blue of the sky as she passed out.

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She opened her eyes and blinked a few times. This wasn't her room! There were no soft toys, no photos on the walls, and no duck-egg blue wallpaper. This wasn't even a bed, but a sofa, protected by a thick green blanket made of felted wool. Leanne ran her hand over it a few times, her fingers finding the odd strand of loose animal fur in the wool. She didn't have a pet. She didn't know anyone who did, what with the food ration. Whose house was this?

Looking around gave her no clues either. It was a crowded room, but comfortable. The windows were small, letting in enough sunlight to let her see the over-full bookshelves and the happy chaos of a work-desk. Daniel and Katy's room looked like this, Leanne thought, and the idea made her relax. A second table held fewer papers, but more interesting things. She wandered over to it, touching the pestle and mortar and tipping up the jars to the light, staring at the leaves and odd powders in them.

"They're medicines." Leanne recognised the soft voice, and didn't whirl around as quickly as she might have done, but she still jumped. The woman smiled apologetically at her surprise, and then walked over to take the jar gently from the girl's hand. "This is turmeric. If you add it to milk and some honey it will help ease a cough. I don't think you need it!"

"Are you a doctor?" Leanne asked, her voice faint. The woman shook her head, and then looked thoughtful, grey eyes flicking sideways as she considered.

"Not really. I suppose you would call me a vet."

"That explains the pet hair!" The girl realised she'd spoken out loud and blushed, but the vet didn't seem to mind. She raised an eyebrow.

"You noticed that? Very observant of you. Or perhaps we should clean more often!" She looked at the chaos of paper on the second desk with some amusement and put the jar down carefully on her own table, treating the old jam jar as if glass was something precious. "You fainted, Leanne, and I didn't know where you lived, and your brother needed help too, so I brought you home. I hope you don't mind."

"Tallis!" Leanne clapped a hand to her forehead, feeling the faintness flooding back. "The monster… is he, is he…?"

"He's fine! He hurt his leg, but I bandaged it up for him." The woman spoke quickly, seriously, and then the wry amusement returned. "You call your brother 'the monster'?"

"No." Leanne looked scornful. "I meant the _hurrock_, lady! It attacked us."

"Ah." The woman smiled briefly and then turned away, gesturing for Leanne to follow her. The girl did, wondering if this was truly the woman who had fought the hurrock away. Maybe someone else did it and she just spoke to it. She'd never heard of a ninja _vet _before.

The woman led her through to the kitchen and fetched her a glass of milk, staying tactfully silent while Leanne checked on Tallis. The little boy was fast asleep in a huge chair that sat near the stove, one leg neatly bandaged, one hand clutching a sleeping cat tightly as if it were a teddy bear. Every so often the cat would open one lazy eye and purr. Leanne dipped her fingertip in the creamy milk and held it out to the cat, smiling when it licked it off with a papery tongue and then dozed off again.

"She's called Selki." The vet said. Leanne nodded solemnly and went to sit at the kitchen table, sipping the milk before asking her own question.

"What's your name?"

Did Leanne imagine it, or did the woman pause before she answered? "I'm Deanna," she said, with a smile which made her hesitation seem less ominous. Leanne had been expecting _Mrs. Somethinorother, _so being told a first name made her smile back and ask what Deanna's messy boyfriend's name was.

This time the corners of Deanna's eyes turned up in genuine amusement. "I think I'm a little old to be living with a boyfriend! I have a husband, though. His name is Aaron."

"How old _are _you?" Leanne asked, then clapped her hand over her mouth as if the question was truly impertinent. Deanna didn't seem to mind, although the question made some of the smile disappear from her eyes. The eyes were grey and unlined, and apart from the white streak there was no fading in her curly brown hair. Her answer was flippant as she busied herself finding a blanket for Tal.

"Oh, I'm ancient."

Leanne accepted that answer gravely, sipping her milk. Deanna sat down at the opposite side of the table and rested her chin in her hands, bright eyes kind but serious. "Why were you on your own?" She asked gently. Leanne looked down at her hands, swallowing back her guilt, and explained about the vases, and Tallis's mission to destroy _everything, _and…

"Yes, yes, but that's not what I meant." The woman interrupted, "I meant, why were you alone in the first place? You look about eight. Where are your parents?"

"My mummy's dead." Leanne said automatically, and was surprised that the woman hardly reacted. Most grown-ups would flinch and tiptoe around the subject. Slightly put-out, she carried on, "I live with my big brother, and his girlfriend, and with Tallis, of course."

"Of course!" Deanna smiled encouragingly, and glanced over to the chair where the boy was sleeping curled into an impossibly tight ball. "Your brother?"

"No, my nephew. And I'm not eight, miss, I'm ten."

"I apologise, I should stop making guesses! I seem to be getting everything wrong." The woman laughed, and Leanne wondered if it was real laughter. Most grown-ups didn't talk like this. She decided she didn't mind; the lady had a nice voice, with a strange lilting accent, and even if she was just being grown-uppy and secretive, she was still nice, and had fought off the horrible monster. So the girl tried to explain.

"My brother wouldn't leave us alone, not normally. But he has to work, and so does Katy. Usually me 'n Tal are at school when they're working and we all meet up at the gates and walk home together, you know? But sometimes the school has a power cut, when they're rationing off the power and don't tell the school before, you know? And it's a basement because of the… the immortals. They wanted us to be safe, not to have big windows. So when they have a power cut we can't see, so we're all sent home early. When that happens I'm to take Tal home and keep him quiet for the day until there are grown-ups around. Usually he's fine, but today…today…"

Deanna stood up quickly to lean over the table. It took Leanne a moment to realise she was being offered a handkerchief.

"Don't cry," The woman said, "Nothing was your fault, not really."

"I took him outside, though! On my own! Daniel's going to be so a-a-angry at me!" Leanne sobbed into the piece of cloth. The woman stared at her for a moment, and then sat down heavily.

"What… what did you say your brother's name was?" She whispered. Leanne repeated it through sobs, wondering if this grownup was going to tell on her.

"And the lady's name is Katy? And you're Leanne?" The woman's soft voice was oddly insistent. Leanne nodded. Perhaps she was going to call the _police… _

And then the woman did something unbelievable.

She started laughing.

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Leanne curled up under her duvet, hugging her toy duck to her chest and repeating her promise over and over again until it was etched into her dreams. _Don't let your brother know what happened. He'll only worry. Promise me you won't tell him a single word._

Leanne was proud of herself, and whispered why to the duck: "I didn't say a word."

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"I didn't say a word." Said Daine, "Not one word. _Nothing. _I don't see why you're so angry at me!"

"You brought them into our home!" Numair threw his hands up and stomped into the next room mid-accusation, knowing full well that his voice would carry through into the kitchen. Daine decided to retort in kind.

"So what? I should have left them in the park, bleeding and scared out of their wits? I didn't even know who they were until long after they were already here."

"They're not stray dogs, Daine." Numair's voice was softer, but dangerous. "They can speak to _other people. _What do you think they will say first?"

"Nothing! Not our names, not anything about us, and definitely not that we know their family already. _Nothing. _All that little girl knows is where we live, because even though I can lie about the rest of our life I can't pretend we don't live here…"

"Yes, the little girl told me that the woman who lives in that house can fight off a whole immortal on her own, and, you know, I talked to the neighbours and apparently she moved in around the same time the monsters reappeared. Well, let's just check up on them, see… oh, wait, they're not on our records! Where did they come from? Odd, how they suddenly appeared with the immortals..!"

"You're exaggerating." Daine picked at a splinter from the table, trying not to pretend it was her husband's stubborn will she was smoothing out with vengeful fingernails. "That won't happen. People aren't that suspicious."

"They're still looking for someone to blame." Numair pointed out, walking back into the room with a face set like thunder. "You see it every day in the papers. And since we actually _are _to blame, and Daniel, and Katy, it would be best if we all kept a low profile… and _didn't_ incriminate each other."

Daine opened her mouth to reply, and then hissed between her teeth when the splinter embedded itself in her fingertip. Rather than get dragged back into a shouting match, she shrugged off her answer and busied herself trying to pull the fragment out with her teeth. The silence was perhaps a good thing; after a few minutes Numair had calmed down enough to sit down and speak quietly.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't have helped them." He said, "Of course you should. I'm glad you did."

"We can't cut ourselves off forever," Daine gave up on the splinter and rested her head in her arms, sounding unbearably tired. "We _can't. _I miss the others, but you're right… we all have to start again, make our own lives. But how can we do that if we don't take risks and let people know us? Even if it's not really us, not our real names, not our real stories, even then. We have to let _someone _in. After spending hundreds of years trapped in the divine realms, I thought you'd be itching to meet someone new. I know _I_ am!"

Numair sighed and tugged at his nose, trying to think of an excuse to say _no _when he knew she was actually right. But… "A child?"

"Yes, a child. Why not?" Daine couldn't help herself sounding defensive, and was relieved when Numair didn't notice the tone. Or perhaps he was purposefully avoiding raising the subject. They both knew that there were some things that shouldn't be spoken about in raised voices. He started to say something, and then stopped, looking away. Daine read his expression and forced herself to smile, knowing he could see through the expression like a sheet of glass.

"It doesn't mean I'm giving up."

"No. No, I know that, sweetling. But… won't having other people's children around be…"

"Oh, be still my beating jealous heart." Daine said tartly, ending the conversation once and for all.

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	2. Chapter 2: Evil Follows You

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Chapter 2: Evil Follows You

"You came back, then."

Leanne saw through the flat words straight away, seeing the glint in Deanna's eyes that said she was as pleased to see her as Leanne was to be back. "I have free time on Saturday mornings, once I've done my chores. Today I did them in record time!"

"So you didn't sweep out the corners?" The woman teased, and opened the door to let the houseguest in. Leanne carefully wiped off her feet before seeing the trail of muddy paw prints on the wooden boards and grinning. "Did Selki go paddling?"

"Not Selki, no. That was Jasper." Leanne expected the woman to introduce another pet to her, but instead Deanna squatted down and pointed to the prints. "See, this pad here? You don't get that shape in cat paws. Cat paws are rounder."

"Oh. So Jasper's a dog?" Leanne figured out, and felt an odd glow of pride when the woman nodded. "Can you tell all your pets by their paw prints, lady?"

Deanna stood up and frowned. "Well yes, I can, but I'm sad to recognise Jasper. I _told _him he should be more careful."

Leanne giggled, but the woman didn't seem to be joking, and darted back into the depths of the house after the rogue dog without another word to her guest. The girl peeled off her shoes slowly, feeling the odd prickly sensation of being left unwatched in another person's home. The prickly feeling intensified, and she looked up to see another pair of eyes studying her. She stared back for a moment, and the man shrugged.

"Avéra." He said abruptly, and then turned and left.

Leanne was still gaping after him when Deanna returned, holding a glass of fruit juice in each hand.

"What does _avéra _mean, miss?"

Deanna made an odd gesture that was half dismissive, half explanatory. "It's a greeting. Or, I suppose you could call it a blessing. You know, to welcome someone safely into your home? It means… um, I guess you'd say 'may no harm follow you'." She grinned. "It also seems to mean that you've met my husband. Wait a moment." She leaned around the door which Aaron had shut after him and called out, "_Ista du eput avéra e Leanne, Aaron_?"

Leanne couldn't hear the man's reply, but since it seemed to be in the same lilting language it wouldn't have made much difference if she could. Daine handed her one of the glasses, a faintly annoyed line between her eyes, and when the girl asked her what the reply had been she hesitated before replying.

"He doesn't really think you should be here. I suppose I should be grateful he said anything to you at all." She smiled briefly, a false smile that even the child could see through, and finished, "Well, let's not worry. He'll come round eventually."

"What language is that?" Leanne followed the woman into the kitchen, stopping to stroke Selki when she spotted the cat dozing on top of a bookshelf in the hall. Deanna shrugged and looked sidelong at her, her eyes shifting to the cat for a distracted moment until she answered.

"It used to be called Common, too, like your language is now. Not many people speak it any more, just people from… from where we came from. Languages die just like everything else, you see. So it doesn't really have a name any more."

Leanne thought gravely for a moment. "What is the word for 'common' in it, then?"

The corner of Deanna's mouth turned up. "Yes, you're right! Let's call it _Curun_."

"Curun. Avéra." Leanne repeated the words a few times slowly, and then nodded. "I like it! Will you tell me more words?"

"You want to learn our language now?" Deanna laughed and gestured to the table. It took Leanne a moment to notice that some of the jars from the living room had been moved into the kitchen. "I thought you might want to know more about the medicines, since you seemed fair curious about them the last time you were here. But if you like, we can learn words instead."

"Or both!" The girl said eagerly, and then blushed. The woman laughed again- she laughed a lot, readily and easily, as if the world as a whole entertained her.

"Surely. Well, then…" she picked up a jar and shook some of the contents onto the table- a tiny pile of dried brown things. "These are mushrooms. The word for mushrooms is _utumn, _and these particular mushrooms are a special type known as a _birch bracket_…"

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Monday mornings always dragged by at school, and this Monday was so slow it was like a special kind of torture. Leanne ignored her usual seat to sit at the back of the class, staring out of the window so she could daydream while the teacher droned on about the basic laws of magic. Her mind reeled through her own lesson, repeating the strange words as if they held some vast secret. _Avéra, _greetings_. Curun, _common_. Utumn, _mushrooms. G_ley, _herbs. _Meh _and _du _for me and you_._ They were unlike any other language she'd ever heard before; not like the guttural sounds she had to repeat in Carthaki class, or the fluid vowels of the Yamani language. Those words slipped right out of her head or tangled on her tongue before she could say them. But she could remember easily that _noméra _meant goodbye, and when she'd repeated it back to Deanna the woman's eyes had lit up.

"Miss Kitwake!" A hand slammed down onto the desk in front of her, making her jump, and she blinked up at the teacher. He was an old man, running to fat, and his cheeks wobbled when he was angry. They wobbled now, making the rest of the class giggle. "You've not been paying attention!"

"_Nanïm_!" She blurted automatically, apologising, and then realised what she'd said when the rest of the class sniggered. Flushing, she tried again, seeing the vein pulsing in the teacher's forehead. "I'm sorry, sir."

"Sorry? Sorry? You don't know how lucky you are!" The teacher frothed, and the class collectively sighed at the lecture they knew was coming next. All the magic teachers had their own version of it, but Mr Kerry repeated his at least once a week. Some of the older students could recite it off by heart.

"You don't know how lucky you are to have these classes! Oh, you may snore and giggle your way through my lessons, but ten years ago if you had even the smallest trace of the gift… even the smallest spark… you'd have been taken away from your family like _that!" _At this point, Kerry always snapped his podgy fingers. Today they were greasy; they didn't make the snapping sound he was expecting, and he frowned. "You may complain about the power cuts, but it was worse before, when we had all the power in the world, but we didn't know that it was being ripped out of our families' veins! Oh yes, you're happy enough to boil a pot of water with your gift _now_; back then, even sneezing sparks would curse you to life as a slave to the Sorrocks! And you're _sorry?" _He _scowled_, jowls trembling, and then retreated back to the front of the class with his point made.

"What's _wrong _with you today?" Angelica leaned over from her desk to hiss at her friend. Leanne half-shrugged, copying down some notes from the board before the bell rang. The class she was _lucky to have_ had apparently been on using the gift to move small objects. It was hardly inspirational. The bell rang before she finished, and she cursed under her breath as she frantically scribbled the last two sentences into unreadable scrawls.

She wasn't badly late, but even so Katy was tapping her foot impatiently outside. Normally Leanne got on well with her brother's girlfriend, since she was the only real mother figure she'd known after her mum had been killed by a stormwing attack in the first immortal surge. But there were a few things that Katy did that annoyed her, and this was the main one. She couldn't be a second late, or walk slowly, because to Katy time was everything. Today the girl's tardiness only bought her a sidelong scowl, and they walked slightly more briskly than usual to catch the time up. They walked around to the junior part of the school, where Daniel was collecting Tallis, and when she saw him Leanne ran ahead to give her brother a hug.

"Hello, trouble!" He said warmly, ruffling her hair. "Good day?"

"It was alright," she replied, as she always did. He laughed and took hold of Tallis' hand so they could start walking.

"I've been thinking," He said, "About what happened on Friday. Who was it you said looked after you?"

"Her name's Deanna, she's a vet." Leanne repeated solidly, not sure where her brother was going with this. He smiled and nodded.

"Ah yes, I remember. Well, I'd like to meet her and thank her for looking after both of you, and for bandaging up Tallis' leg. I don't think he'll even have a scar, it's healing that well! So how about we walk round there before tea?"

"I don't know…" Leanne said slowly. She didn't want Daniel to find out that she'd sneaked over there on Saturday, when she was supposed to be at Angelica's house. He was usually so mild-mannered, but his temper did get nasty when he was lied to. He didn't like secrets, he said, and refused to have them in the house. Thankfully she was spared from having to think of an excuse when Katy chipped in.

"We can't go today, Daniel, we have to go to that… to the meeting." She looked around as she changed the end of her sentence, and Daniel sighed.

"They talk and talk and never do anything. We could miss a night, they wouldn't notice."

"And then they'd talk and talk about _us!" _Katy's voice was playful, but her eyes glinted. The man thought about that for a moment and then nodded, his voice a shrug.

"Well, I want to thank Deanna anyway. Leanne, how about you take a letter around to her from us? We'll be back before dark, and you'll be perfectly safe if you keep to the streets."

Leanne was nodding eagerly before Daniel even finished his sentence, and couldn't stop the disappointed moue she made when he finished, "And take your nephew with you."

"But he's so _annoying!" _Leanne whined, kicking her feet. Katy glared at her, ready to yell if she scuffed her shoes, but the girl only stopped when her brother squeezed her hand.

"I know it's hard for you to look after him, but you're so good at it, Lee. We can't take him to the meeting with us. There's things that we don't want you kids mixed up in, not until you're old enough to decide whether you want to do them or not."

Leanne pouted but didn't argue. Her brother was always going to the meetings, and he never seemed happy about them. Once he'd even missed her birthday party, when the time for a meeting was suddenly changed. He never spoke about what they did, but Katy sometimes let something slip, her eyes shining with excitement when she used words like _plan _and _proof _and _protest _and lots of other words starting with P. Daniel's eyes would always flicker towards the children when he asked her to hush. It was one of the only things the grown-ups fought over.

It had taken The Scary Night before Katy stopped talking about the meetings in front of them. Leanne remembered that night, remembered how the front door had slammed loudly, waking her and Tallis up, and how Daniel had rushed into her room smelling of smoke and sweat and the night and another strange, coppery scent, shaking with fear but telling her to stop crying, to be quiet, to turn the lights out, because _they mustn't know we're here…_

…no, Leanne didn't want to think about the meetings. Spending the afternoon with Deanna seemed much nicer. Even if it did mean taking the pest with her!

Daniel was smiling at her, thinking her silence was compliance, and unstrung her pass from his neck. It usually hung there next to his, a small square of card on a long chain, with her Gift type and name and strange codes and a picture on it. She took it solemnly.

"Tallis will get his pass soon, won't he?" She asked absently, running her fingertips along the edge of the card. She didn't see Katy's face darken, but she heard it in her voice:

"Yes, when he's six. Then they'll call him for his tests and give him his number and then check him every time he passes them on the street to make sure he's one of the _good_ numbers."

"Katy," Daniel's voice was warning. Katy sighed and brushed her son's hair back from his forehead before nudging him gently towards his aunt.

"Off you go then. Have fun. Tell them we'll thank them personally, just as soon as we're able. If they're not in, go straight home, you hear?"

"Yes ma'am." Leanne drawled, and then ducked when Katy took a playful swipe at her, sticking her tongue out before she ran down the road with her brother in tow.

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"So where did you say your family are?" Daine asked carefully, seeing the odd shadow in Leanne's face when she thought of a reply. The woman sighed inwardly- whatever the answer was, it was likely going to be a lie.

"They're at work. Late. Working late." There was no grace in the lie either, it was artlessly banal. Perhaps the child didn't care if she was believed or not, or perhaps she just hadn't had much practice with lying. Daine found herself hoping it was the second reason.

"Do they _work late _often?" She made her own voice as artless, and saw the odd mixture of surprise and stubbornness flash across Leanne's eyes.

"'s right. It's important. It's more important than being with us. So it's too important to talk about with people we don't know." The words were defiant, practiced, but spoken with some pain. It was obviously a sore point. Perhaps she should drop it, but Daine opened her mouth to ask… she wasn't sure what, really. She just knew that there wasn't much that would make a young family trust their children with strangers, and the way things were at the moment, she doubted it was something safe.

Numair interrupted her before she could ask her next question, calling out to her from the doorway before he'd even shut the door, and she excused herself to the children before she went to join him. He was pulling his coat off, leaving the sleeves inside out in his haste, and as soon as he saw her he started speaking rapidly.

"They did it. They voted on it today. They're all in favour of it." He tried to hang the coat up and cursed broadly when it fell from the hook. Daine barely noticed. Blood drained from her face as his words sank in.

"But… they _can't." _She caught hold of the wall, not trusting her legs not to shake under her. "I never thought they would… they won't actually…"

"Oh, they will." Numair's voice was grim as he picked up the coat and kicked off his boots. "They don't know anything. They see any immortals as animals, as… as beasts to be butchered. They have the technology, after all. A few hundred years of draining human beings has given them good practice! They were so happy, Daine. They were joking about how much power a creature _made _of magic, rather than just _having _magic, would produce in a few years wired up to their machines…"

"Please don't." Daine whispered, knowing that he was furious and needing to rant, but feeling sicker with every word he said. Her husband glanced up and then paused, stepping forward to wrap an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm sorry." He said, "I wasn't thinking; I'm angry. Are you alright? You're white as a sheet."

"They wouldn't even know about the dragons if it wasn't for us." Daine's voice was bitter. "I _told _Kit we'd find our own way out of the divine realms once the barrier was destroyed, but she wouldn't hear of it… and now…"

"They'll fight back, you know." Numair wasn't sure if his voice was doubtful or reassuring, but both of them knew what he meant. Blood would be spilled, both silver and red, over this decision. He took a deep breath and amended his sentence. "We have to find some way to warn them. The spells have the same pull over them they always did, when Ozorne dragged the immortals through… but they can at least be prepared for it this time."

"Missus Draper?" The voice was high pitched and uncertain, and Tallis actually took a step back when Numair looked down at him. "Missus, are you alright? Grown ups don't cry, you know."

"I'm not crying." Daine hastily wiped under her eyes and thanked the gods that the harsher sounds of Common hid the roughness in her voice. "Go back to your sister, Tallis, this is a grown-up talk."

"Yes ma'am." The little boy trailed back into the kitchen obediently, looking back in frank curiosity but keeping firmly to command.

"What are they doing here?" Numair asked. Daine explained to him about the thank-you message, and the strange absence of both their parents.

"So they're in the resistance." He concluded after a few sentences. The woman shrugged and half-smiled.

"It certainly seems that way, doesn't it? I was thinking the same thing before you got here."

Numair tugged at his nose, eyes distant. "Well, if they're in the resistance, we could use their help."

"No." Daine was surprised at the strength in her voice. "No. We owe them more than to mix them up in this."

"Daine, they're going to be mixed up in it anyway." The man's voice was kind, but held the same vein of iron. "Better they're prepared…"

"They're prepared. We did that to them ourselves. They know how to protect themselves. This time, let them make their own choices." The woman ran a hand through her hair, frustrated and not knowing how to explain herself. "We can't keep dragging them into our problems."

"But you're perfectly happy to let their children…"

"That's different." Daine knew she was being hypocritical but didn't care. "They're innocent."

Numair looked at her for a long moment, and then sighed. "Well, then… I won't approach them. Not yet. There's a lot to be done before we take action, anyway. But… the very second that the council rips the barriers apart, there's going to be chaos to answer to."

"I know." Daine set her jaw. "I can teach the children. They'll be safer for it. They don't need to know why."

"Poor little soldiers." Numair said, and shrugged. "Better you'd tell them."

"I won't. Let them have one last summer." Daine bit her lip and glanced out of the glass-panelled door. The birds called to each other outside, and it was so peaceful that she wondered if the group of officials who had voted today knew they were plunging their country into a vicious war.


End file.
